Singer-songwriter Alicia Keys brings her 'As I Am' tour to New Orleans tonight

Six years and a couple hundred concerts later, Alicia Keys has not forgotten her disastrous 2002 Essence Music Festival debut.

A deafening, Superdome-sized silence greeted her the night of July 4, 2002. Nothing -- not her hype man, the opening "Alicia Keys overture," her flurry of piano, song and dance, a tepid cover of the Doors' "Light My Fire" -- connected with the discriminating Essence audience. In a final insult, the curtain dropped before she performed "Fallin'," her breakthrough hit.

"It was a strange night, one of those nights," Keys said during a conference call last week. "We always come back for 'Fallin'.' Somehow (the stage crew) got in their mind that (the previous song) was my last song. They were so concerned with remaining on their time schedule that they shut off the lights and sound. I was like, 'Wait a minute!'

"I was kind of upset because I felt like I was definitely cut short; I had a different vision as to how it was going to go down. But it taught me a lot about performing and a lot about making the best out of situations as you go along."

She brings her latest tour to the New Orleans Arena on Thursday. The bill also includes "American Idol" sixth season winner Jordin Sparks and contemporary R&B crooner Ne-Yo, promoting his upcoming third album, "Year of the Gentleman."

Keys' most recent effort, "As I Am," was among the best-selling albums of 2007, and with good reason. It is loaded with near-perfect singles, including "No One," "Superwoman," "Like You'll Never See Me Again" and "Teenage Love Affair."

While writing the album, Keys delved into Van Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker and Janis Joplin "just to feel that energy and fierceness and abandonment and flow," she said. She also soaked up U2, R.E.M., Coldplay and Nirvana. U2, especially, struck a chord.

"U2 is a special band. The melodies are always sick," she said. "It really doesn't matter what background you are or even what music is your preference, you're drawn to the directness, rawness and melodic-ness of their style. They combine all the worlds in a fly way."

Her 2006 solo journey to Egypt informed four songs ultimately cut from "As I Am." But she finds the "darker, Arabic scales" to be "very sensual, emotional and beautiful. The more I travel and experience different types of music opens me up to experimenting. Especially on the Middle Eastern side, there's something very gorgeous about it I want to explore."

Keys is also nurturing a credible sideline as a film actress, appearing in "Smokin' Aces" and "The Nanny Diaries." In the upcoming "The Secret Life of Bees," her hair is cut short and her skin is darkened.

Matt Sayles/AP PhotoSinger Alicia Keys was in New Orleans back in 2002 for her Essence Music Festival Debut.

"I don't want people to see me and say, 'There's Alicia.' I want people to see the character."

Preparing for recording projects and films is similar, she said. "What helps prepare for music is to remove myself from my element -- going someplace I've never been, doing something I've always wanted to do. It opens up my mind and gives me a chance to discover who I am at that point.

"Preparing for a film, I have to discover who this person is that I'm becoming. That's more self-reflective, because I'm trying to find the places in myself that relate to their experience. They're both personal, because you dig into your own experience to find what you're looking for. But one is extremely personal and the other is taking that personal element and applying it to something you're just now learning."

For her current tour, the goal is to "show the diversity of who I am and the ways I express myself, some very big, some intimate. Take you through a journey of things maybe you've never seen me do and things you expect me to do. I never want to be stuck in a box.

"From beginning to end, I want the show to be a constant ascension. And bring people into my world, so they feel like they're a part of it, not just watching."

She achieved that goal at her second Essence Music Festival appearance, in 2005. Hours after news broke that Luther Vandross, a favorite of both Keys and Essence, had died, she delivered a memorable set in the Dome. She dedicated a song to Vandross, and received a richly deserved standing ovation.

"When I came back (to Essence), I'd performed so much more at so many different events," she said. "You start to get a read and a vibe on what to do as a performer in any given situation.

"I was very happy that we were able to end up on a positive note. It's all learning lessons. I totally grew leaps and bounds from that first show to that second one. And even more so now."

Music writer Keith Spera can be reached at kspera@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3470.